Hewitt refutes talk of retirement after his quick home exit

Published on Tuesday 20 January 2009 22:17

LLEYTON Hewitt is adamant that retirement is a long way off, despite losing in the first round of the Australian Open.

The Australian, who is on yet another comeback trail after undergoing hip surgery in August, was bundled out of his home grand slam by Chile's 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in a see-saw match.

It was Hewitt's first opening-round defeat in Melbourne since 2002, when he was struck down by chicken pox, but the 27-year-old is confident he can still compete with the world's best players. "I'm right there," the former world No1 said when asked whether he could return to the top ten.

"If I was going to retire, then I wouldn't have had the surgery done. It wasn't something that was going to affect me in everyday life for the rest of my life. It was something that, if I want to still play tennis, then it had to be done."

Hewitt, who has been hampered by toe, knee and back problems since 2005, has slipped down the rankings to No70 after his latest injury setback. He only returned to competition this month but was unseeded for the Australian Open and not expected to beat Gonzalez, a finalist in Melbourne two years ago.

Rafael Nadal issued a signal of intent to Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray with a crushing defeat of Belgian Christophe Rochus.

Nadal produced a ruthless display of baseline aggression mixed with the odd foray into the net as he dispatched Rochus 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in just 77 minutes in the final match on day two at Melbourne Park.

Asked if he had gone out to make a statement to his rivals following their opening victories, Nadal replied: "I'm not thinking about that, I'm just trying to make sure I play well myself.

"Roger and Novak are in the other half of the draw, so I can only meet them in the final. I just have to worry about this half of the draw and my next match."

Last year's finalist Jo- Wilfried Tsonga also had an easy time, defeating Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-4, 6-0, while ninth seed James Blake also went through with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Frank Dancevic.

Other seeds to progress on day two were No6 Gilles Simon, who beat Spain's Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, and French compatriot Richard Gasquet, who needed four sets to get past Diego Junqueira 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-4.

Jurgen Melzer, of Austria, had a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 win against Japan's Kei Nishikori and remains on course for a possible match-up with Murray in the third round.

Twelfth seed Gael Monfils, of France, had a straightforward 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 victory against Martin Vassallo Arquello and Nicolas Almagro of Spain, No25 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, 14th seed Fernando Verdasco and 18th seed Igor Andreev also made it safely through.

But Dimitry Tursunov and Rainer Schuettler, seeded 29th and 30th, both bowed out.